1. Field of Disclosed Subject Matter
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for implementing a streamlined scheme for transferring print jobs directly from the print queue of one image forming device to the print queue of another image forming device using mobile devices and tags, such as near field communication (NFC) tags, affixed to image forming devices.
2. Related Art
Modern office and other production workspace environments make beneficial use of myriad electronic devices in direct and networked communication with each other. These connected electronic devices streamline communications between individuals in the organization and facilitate accomplishment of production tasks by the organization. Individual user workstations, accessible by one or more users, are employed to effect user interaction with the production devices. Outputs from individual user workstations may include point-to-point interactive communications, digital data outputs (raw and/or analyzed) often stored for further analysis or other uses, operating instructions for one or more production devices and other like outputs.
The proliferation of electronic devices places increased physical burdens on a user organization particularly with regard to providing optimum placement of image forming devices in proximity to user workstations to the convenience of individual users. While the problem may be minimal in an instance where the image forming device is a reasonably small desktop device, certain printing and print processing requirements often require ever more sophisticated image forming systems. Complex image forming systems often comprise a number of image forming and finishing modules for individual page image forming and sophisticated document binding and finishing processes carried out through these systems. Optimal placement of the more sophisticated image forming systems may require them to be placed, for example, in a centrally located document processing center within the operating environment of the user organization. Such a document processing center may be located remotely from a large percentage of the user workstations that direct image forming operations in the more complex image forming systems located there. Additionally, there has arisen an increased proliferation in directing printing in all manner of image forming systems, from simple to complex, directly from individual users' mobile devices.